Officials hope Rockford IceHogs will spike arena attendance

ROCKFORD — Officials are counting on the IceHogs to play a key role in a resurgence of the downtown arena that the minor league hockey team calls home.

Jeff Kolkey

ROCKFORD — Officials are counting on the IceHogs to play a key role in a resurgence of the downtown arena that the minor league hockey team calls home.

With a month until the grand reopening of the MetroCentre as the BMO Harris Bank Center at the IceHogs Sept. 28 preseason home opener, Rockford Area Venues & Entertainment Authority officials are pushing to top the team’s record-setting attendance from last year.

A total of 174,418 fans attended 40 home games in the 2011 season, a 9.6 percent increase and a club record. Officials are setting their attendance goal 5 percent higher for the 2012 season even with two fewer games on the league schedule this season.

RAVE Authority Chairman Mike Dunn said the IceHogs are a developmental team for the Chicago Blackhawks. Although the IceHogs fight hard to win, the team is ultimately designed to mold tomorrow’s hockey stars in the NHL.

That development might be the priority over winning today, but the good part about that is fans get to see players who at any time during the season might get called up to play for the Blackhawks.

“What we have successfully accomplished is that the IceHogs game isn’t just about a hockey game anymore, it’s a family event,” Dunn said.

RAVE Authority Treasurer John Phelps said the 2012 performance of the IceHogs is about more than merely filling seats. The financial health and the vitality of the RAVE Authority rests on the hockey team’s shoulders.

“Many of our corporate sponsors support the BMO Harris Bank Center because they are confident that the strong attendance at (38) home games will generate a lot of visibility and create good will for their companies,” Phelps said. “The regularity and predictability of these events is paramount to these sponsors, who view the concerts and special events as icing on the cake.”

Millions in overall revenue
The IceHogs generated $1.6 million in ticket sales last year and $2.3 million in total overall revenue. It was enough for the team to nearly break even overall under a financial model utilized by General Manager Gordon Kaye that treats the team as a separate business unit from the rest of arena operations.

But as the RAVE Authority works to reduce public operating subsidies for the arena, 2012 will be a critical year for the IceHogs, the newly renamed BMO Harris Bank Center and the RAVE Authority.

In preparation, staffers are working to improve the fan experience. And with little money available, the RAVE Authority is working out trades, sponsorships and partnerships to make minor improvements that add up to a better experience at the arena, Kaye said.

“We are very focused, very directed,” Kaye said. “Our giveaways are going to be great, our theme nights are going to be great. We’ll have live music on Friday nights, country nights, sock monkey giveaways, a lot of really fun stuff. Dollar nights are going to be back, and I guess fun is the word we are really looking for.”

Improving the experience of fans includes simple things like painting dingy bathroom walls and making sure faucets are working. It also includes larger things like the $18,000 repair of an escalator at the main entrance that hasn’t been operational in three years and the $275,860 state-funded installation of new boards around the playing surface.

As a deadline looms to prepare for the new name to mark the arena, there are dozens of points to iron out with BMO Harris Bank representatives on the location, composition and color of its new signs which still must be manufactured and installed.

Arena tweaks sought
Officials also are looking for creative ways to subtly but significantly improve the looks of the arena. For instance, suites will have a more finished look for this IceHogs season thanks to a partnership with the Rockford Area Arts Council and an artist collaborative known as Art Matters based at the Prairie Street Brewhouse.

RAAC Executive Director Ann O’Keefe said her organization arranged to have artists decorate the arena suite level with about 15 paintings. It’s an arrangement that gives local artists exposure to suite holders who might buy paintings and donate to the arts council. It also could lead to galleries in the more public areas of the arena, O’Keefe said.

And it gives suite holders a much improved-looking box from which to watch games and concerts.

“I’m excited they understand the importance of the arts in a somewhat unexpected place,” O’Keefe said. “You wouldn’t expect to walk into the MetroCentre and see artwork.”

Staff writer Jeff Kolkey can be reached at jkolkey@rrstar.com or at 815-987-1374.

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